CHARLESTON, S.C. — Nine people have died in a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., police said early Thursday morning.

"I do believe this was a hate crime," Police Chief Gregory Mullen said.

Eight people died on the scene at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and one person was pronounced dead at a hospital, Mullen said. The suspect, who remains on the loose, is a white male about 21 years old, officials said.

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Authorities are looking for a young white man in connection to the massacre at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC where a gunman opened fire, killing nine people.
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The shooting took place at about 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Charleston Police released photos of the suspect during a news conference that started at 6 a.m. ET Thursday, and said he left the scene in a black four door sedan. He is described as "armed and dangerous."

Church members were shot as they took part in shot at bible study, the NAACP said. Dot Scott, president of the Charleston NAACP, said a female survivor told family members that the gunman initially sat down in the church for a while before opening fire, the Post and Courier reported. Scott added that the gunman reportedly told the woman he was letting her live so she could tell others what happened.

Among the dead was the state senator who was pastor of the church, Democrat Clementa Pinckney, said South Carolina House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, the Associated Press reported. Pinckney, 41, was married with two children and had served in the state Senate since 2000, according to online biographies.

People were taking part in a prayer meeting at the time of the incident, Mayor Joe Riley said during the press conference.

"This is inexplicable," Riley said. "It is the most intolerable and unbelievable act possible ... The only reason someone could walk into church and shoot people praying is out of hate."

Clementa Pinckney.(Photo: WLTX)

Said Police Chief Mullen: "This is a tragedy that no community should have to experience. It is senseless. It is unfathomable that someone would walk into a church when people are having a prayer meeting and take their lives."

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Allen Sanders, right, kneels next to his wife, Georgette, both of McClellanville, S.C., as they pray at a sidewalk memorial on June 20, 2015, in memory of the shooting victims in front of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. "You can't have love and hate residing in the heart at the same time," said Georgette. "We're just going to have to love one another," her husband added. David Goldman, AP

People gather to pray during the Unity Church of Charleston interfaith prayer service for the victims of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church mass shooting on June 20, 2015, in North Charleston, S.C. Joe Raedle, Getty Images

Members of the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church stand in front of the church and announce that services and Sunday school will go ahead as scheduled Sunday, four days after the pastor and eight other people were shot to death in the church on June 20, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

Thousands of people gather for a city-sponsored prayer vigil for the nine victims of the Emanuel AME Church shooting at the College of Charleston TD Arena June 19, 2015, in Charleston, S.C. Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

Najee Washington holds a photo of her grandmother Ethel Lance, one of the nine people killed in Wednesday's shooting at Emanuel AME Church. "She cared for everyone. She took care of people. She would give her last to anyone," said Washington. "That's what she was and that's what she'll always be." David Goldman, AP

Mourners hold a prayer vigil for the nine victims of the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church: Bethel in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Eric Thayer, Getty Images

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks to the media across from the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Haley called for the death penalty for Dylann Storm Roof, 21, of Lexington, S.C., if he is found guilty of murdering nine people during a prayer meeting at the church Wednesday night. Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

People gather at the First AME Church of Los Angeles for a multi-denominational prayer service in memory of the victims of the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. Robyn Beck, AFP/Getty Images

Shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof is escorted from the Sheby, N.C., Police Department. Roof is a suspect in the shooting of several people on June 17 at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Chuck Burton, AP

Keith McDaniel, pastor of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, is surrounded by others in prayer for the victims of Wednesday's shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., at Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church in Spartanburg. Tim Kimzey, The Spartanburg Herald-Journal via AP

Charleston continues to investigate a shooting during a prayer meeting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the oldest black churches in the US South, yesterday. Mary Ann Rutkowski

Noah Nicolaisen, of Charleston, S.C., kneels at a makeshift memorial down the street from where a white man opened fire Wednesday night during a prayer meeting inside the Emanuel AME Church killing several people. David Goldman, AP

A parishioner has her bag checked by a sheriff's deputy before entering a prayer vigil Thursday at Morris Brown AME Church for the people killed Wednesday night during a prayer meeting inside Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. David Goldman, AP

A man leans against a light pole Thursday as he visits a makeshift memorial down the street from where a white man opened fire Wednesday night during a prayer meeting inside Emanuel AME Church killing several people in Charleston, S.C. David Goldman, AP

South Carolina Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster wipes tears during a prayer Thursday at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. State Sen. Clementa Pinckney was killed, Wednesday in a shooting at an historic black church in Charleston, S.C. Rainier Ehrhardt, AP

Sen. Clementa Pinckney speaks at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. Pinckney was killed Wednesday in a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., where he was pastor. Grace Beahm, AP

Emanuel is the oldest AME church in the South and has one of the oldest and largest black congregations south of Baltimore, according to its website. Denmark Vesey, executed for attempting to organize a major slave rebellion in 1822, was one of the founders.

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church sits at 110 Calhoun St. in Charleston, S.C.(Photo: Facebook)

The suspect is a clean-shaven young white male, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, of slender build and with sandy blond hair. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt or hoodie, blue jeans and Timberland boots, officials said.

Pinckney was a native of Beaufort, S.C., and graduated magna cum laude from Allen University in 1995. He received a master's of divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and a master's degree in public administration from the University of South Carolina. He was elected to the South Carolina House in 1996, when he was 23, and was elected to the state Senate in 2000.

Community organizer Christopher Cason said he believed the shootings were racially motivated, the AP reported. "I am very tired of people telling me that I don't have the right to be angry," he said. "I am very angry right now."

Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement: "The NAACP was founded to fight against racial hatred and we are outraged that 106 years later, we are faced today with another mass hate crime.

"There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture."

In a statement, Gov. Nikki Haley asked people to pray for the victims and their families. "While we do not yet know all of the details, we do know that we'll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another," she said.

Tonight we stand in prayer for Pastor Pinckney and his congregation, and the families who are enduring unimaginable pain at their loss.

Senator Tim Scott, who last year became the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate from the south since Reconstruction, said in a statement that he will be leaving Washington to return home to South Carolina as soon as possible.

"My heart is breaking for Charleston and South Carolina tonight," he said. "This senseless tragedy at a place of worship — where we come together to laugh, love and rejoice in God's name — is absolutely despicable and can never be understood."

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was in Charleston hours before the shooting, tweeted: "Heartbreaking news from Charleston - my thoughts and prayers are with you all. -H."

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush canceled his events in the city, where he was scheduled to campaign Thursday.

"Governor Bush's thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families affected by this tragedy," his spokesperson Allie Brandenburger said in a statement.